LOS ANGELES

GUEST WORDS-The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated much of the economy of Los Angeles, the state of California, and the nation.

EASTSIDER--Here are the real stakes for some 2 million beneficiaries and taxpayers.

VOICES-California, a state that once had so much beauty, promise, and opportunity that it was called the Golden State.

ALPERN AT LARGE-Oh, you wonderful "fact-checkers"!  

OTHER WORDS-A gender reveal party just started a wildfire in California — again. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION--People call America a democracy; it is not. People say America is based on equality.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Amazon Day, a day of celebration for over 100 years on September 5 has passed.

GELFAND’S WORLD--What a remarkable coincidence. A few days after Nancy Pelosi was outed for getting her hair cut inside a building (instead of on the sidewalk), President Trump was outed for insulting our nation’s war dead.

LABOR DAY ANGER--This Labor Day, immigrant and worker's rights advocates are sounding the alarm in response to reports of migrant grape pickers, many of whom are undocumented,

ALPERN AT LARGE--In California, in Michigan, in New York, in Florida, and throughout the nation, the economy of the COVID-19 pandemic and pre-election strategies have fast-forwarded and heightened the cultural divides lingering throughout our nation: whether it's capitalism or socialism, or a combination of both, the big issue of "who gets paid, and who gets crumbs" is becoming louder than ever. 

PANDEMIC POLITICS--This rent crisis is particularly acute in Los Angeles and other high-cost cities, where a lack of affordable housing and the economic slowdown from COVID-19 intersect to threaten the stability of many households.

COMMENTARY-What are your values? What core beliefs underpin your view of life in the United States of 2020?

GUEST WORDS--During the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers have struggled balancing their own personal safety with the demands – often unreasonable, selfish and misguided -- of their deep-pocketed employers. 

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--If you want to make your California city government stronger, don’t make your mayor more powerful. Instead, make your city council bigger.

VOICES-The LA City Council voted on August 11, 2020, to start the process of creating two new oversight entities to root out corruption in City Hall.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Normally, when a vote is held in Sacramento on a Sunday, and at 11:30 pm on the Monday before a vote is finally due and on extremely short notice, there are some serious shenanigans involved that have NO business in a functioning democracy. 

EASTSIDER-On August 27, the Planning Commission held a Zoom/Public Hearing concerning a piece of property at 412-426 Crocker Street, in downtown LA. Superficially, no big deal. Right? 

PLANNING WATCH-Nury Martinez, the Councilmember from LA’s Council District 6 in the north Valley, is the President of the Los Angeles City Council.

@THE GUSS REPORT-The streets of Los Angeles are worse than ever thanks to our Peter Pan-like Mayor Eric Garcetti, a recipient of a public paycheck for 20 years and counting.

MOVE LA--California’s latest Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA)—the state-required estimate of the need for housing for people of all incomes over an 8-year period—projects that Southern California will need to provide more than 1.3 million new housing units, almost 60% of them affordable to moderate and low-income households. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-Previous articles have addressed issues specific to the LAPD --  Feet on the Street and Who Wants to Wear the Blue.